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Crowds are where beauty 'reaches the masses'

Movies and the performing arts were designed for live audiences, generally speaking, and they are most complete when all seats are filled. But as live streaming and on-demand services become more prevalent, is the connection between a performance and its audience in danger?

Crowds are where beauty 'reaches the masses'

What do you think about crowded theaters? Are you there on opening night sitting with franchise fanatics elbow to elbow, or do you prefer having the theater to yourself on a Tuesday afternoon?

I run Robinson Film Center, so my stance is obvious. Crowds? For 'em. Movies and the performing arts were designed for live audiences, generally speaking, and they are most complete when all seats are filled.

Steve Aiken, 56, general and artistic director of Shreveport Opera, says it better.

"When you are with a crowd," Steve says, "it means you are someplace where everyone wants to be."

That feeling of wanting to be together only gets stronger when you see a live show.

"Everyone who has ever been involved in live performance knows the difference between a dress rehearsal in front of empty seats and opening night with a full house," Aiken says. For the latter "you're actually getting feedback. You're getting emotional response, and that's important. You're having a conversation with the audience."

Are those conversations between art and audience in danger, though? Maybe.

Thomas Avallone, 36, is a major moviegoer. But as the owner of Maccentric, a Shreveport-based Apple service shop, he also knows what a phone can do.

"Today, you have so many options," Avallone says, listing off streaming services, on-demand services, and all those gadgets that command our leisure time. "You can watch anything at any given time."

It's true. When my wife and I had our second child, that little guy rested on my shoulder for three weeks while I streamed six seasons of "Mad Men" into the wee hours. (Confession: I am a binge-watcher.) Undoubtedly a user of gadgets, too, Avallone is a big fan of audiences. He follows the online production stories about "Batman v. Superman" and "Star Wars: Episode VII." (I'm guilty.) He's really bad at avoiding spoiler alerts. (Also, guilty.) But does knowing what's ahead ruin his excitement for opening night? Not really. Like me, he loves plugging into a crowd.

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A little Batman met a big Batman at a popular screening of Tim Burton’s “Batman” (1989) at Robinson Film Center on Aug. 22.
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Robinson Film Center/Special to The Times
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"I think there is something to be said about that shared communal experience," Avallone says, "when you have a room full of strangers experiencing that thing together."

Avallone points out that an event-movie weekend curiously mimics how we used to watch TV. In a not-so-distant era, we all seemed to watch the same sitcoms and bicker about network news anchors. Not anymore, because there just so many channels and media services to choose from.

We each gravitate to different things, except maybe when big movies like "Guardians of the Galaxy" are released. Avallone joined a big, eager crowd for it.

"It was a wide variety of age groups, and the movie seemed to elicit a lot of response, a lot of laughter," Avallone remembers.

Beverly Bowers, 68, of Bossier City, is retired. She's an avid moviegoer I see a couple times a week at Robinson Film Center. She takes issue with the word "full" when describing an ideal audience.

"I like to have a little bit of space," Bowers says. "I guess I don't like being all hemmed in and people being right on top of you."

But she does want her moviegoing to be a social experience. She generally goes with a friend or friends.

When pressed to name her favorite theater experience of the last year, she singled out a screening of "A Hard Day's Night" at Robinson Film Center. The night began with dinner and team trivia. The theater was pretty full but not packed.

"I think it was the camaraderie," Bowers says. "Everybody was really into the Beatles, and everyone was really having a good time."

Aaron Johnson, 22, is a senior at Centenary College and president of Centenary Film Society. His generation sometimes is criticized for preferring their devices over crowds. But as a cinephile, he likes to join an audience that is invested in what's on screen.

"Going to a film, there should be a big crowd," Johnson says. He likes it when the crowd just can't help but say something back to the screen. "There is kind of this call-and-response thing, and that really (wouldn't happen) if it wasn't such a big crowd."

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Parents and their children attended screenings of the documentary “I Am Eleven” at the Robinson Film Center on Nov. 1. The screenings were part of the Shreveport Times’ Make a Difference Day.
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Robinson Film Center/Special to The Times
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He enjoys that kind of interaction, where the audience itself becomes a kind of performing artist.

"If there is a really emotional scene, a scary scene, or an action scene, you'll have everyone react at the exact same time, and I love that."

What I like about crowds is that they basically form to appreciate things that inspire us. When the movies are great, big audiences can challenge us to appreciate their greatness more fully.

That kind of idea was outlined by Hugo Münsterberg, a psychologist who in 1915 wrote the book "The Photoplay: A Psychological Study."

"(The) greatest mission which the photoplay may have in our community is that of esthetic cultivation," Münsterberg wrote. "Hardly any teaching can mean more for our community than the teaching of beauty where it reaches the masses."

Sure, not all movies are great art. But big crowds have a knack for appreciating beauty in greater ways.

Alexandyr Kent is the executive director of Robinson Film Center, a nonprofit independent theater and education center in downtown Shreveport. He can be reached at akent@robinsonfilmcenter.org.